Two Jose's success leads to 14 employees

The restaurant built on the friendliness its owners and the good food they create has continued to grow over the past three years.

 

Joe's Cafe & Breakfast House opened in late 2009 with six employees in about 1,400 square feet of space. Today it has 14 employees and the restaurant's space has doubled.

 

Jose Serna and Jose Estrada, also known as "the Joe’s," had been friends for some time when they decided to go into business together. They had previously worked together at restaurants like Chile's and Mr. Goody's. 

 

They knew they could cook food people enjoyed and brought in a third partner with restaurant business experience to get the business up and running. The third partner has since moved on, yet the business has kept expanding.

 

Joe's Cafe & Breakfast House recently took home the Microenterprise Award at the annual meeting of Cornerstone Alliance and Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce and their affiliate organizations. To win, a small business must demonstrate exemplary employee training and development, customer service, industry best practices, and significant entrepreneurial spirit, as well as community involvement. 

 

Jose Serna says he and his partner were surprised to receive the recognition but very excited about the award. He says in the early days of the business he and Jose Estrada turned to Small Business Services at Cornerstone Alliance where they learned about resources to help them get started, ideas for the business, and got help crunching numbers. 

 

Serna says satisfied customers have been their best advertisement. "If they like it they let other people know," Serna says.

 

The restaurant is busiest on the weekends and Serna says people keep coming back because of the friendliness of the establishment. "We come out and talk to them. We ask them how the food is and ask how's the service."